Finding Your Next Great Graphic Novel

  • Posted on: 5 November 2019
  • By: Jon Schafle

Our libguides can be a powerful tool to connect you with materials from our catalog and expanding your knowledge on a variety of topics. Whether you're looking for the next book to read in a series, the latest release of your favorite character, looking to jump into comics for the first time or just looking for something completely different, our Graphic Novel Libguide will help you navigate our ever-growing collection and find the perfect title to read. From the homepage you can view a scrolling gallery of some of the newest titles adding to the collection, instructions on how to put individual volumes of a series on hold, links to catalog lists as well as to other resources. After that is a tab where you can find the Comics Blog & Videos page which features all my work on this Blog as well as my YouTube series Beyond the Panels. From there, the Where To Start? page offers some great jumping on points:

  • Adaption & Media Tie-Ins - Featuring titles in our collection based on television, movies, podcasts and more!
  • Banned Comics - Featuring titles that have been challenged and banned for various reasons and books pertaining to the storied history of censorship in comics.
  • Must Read Comics - A breakdown of some of the most influential stories broken down by decade and available in our collection.
  • Origin/Early Collections - Titles featuring origin stories or easy jumping on points for new readers featuring reprint series like DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks.
  • Paste Magazine's 100 Best Horror Comics of All Time - Showcasing some of the very best horror comics available in our collection through a countdown list from Paste Magazine.

From there we go into the Award Winners pages:

  • Eagle Awards - A listing of recipients for the UK comic award that was presented from 1977-2014 in various forms.
  • Eisner Awards - A listing of recipients of the Will Eisner Award for comic excellence and the category they were nominated for. 
  • GLAAD Media Awards - A listing of recipients of the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic that showcase lgbtq+ characters and themes.
  • Harvey Awards - A listing of the recipients of the Harvey Award and the category they were nominated for. 
  • Ignatz Awards - A listing of recipients of the small press oriented award.
  • McDuffie Award - A listing of recipients of the comic award that celebrates diversity and inclusion.
  • Ringo Award - A listing of recipients of the award chosen by both industry professions and fans.
  • Other Awards - Listing award winning graphic novels from other non-graphic novel oriented awards such as the Hugos, Stokers, and many more.

Followed by a yearly wrap-up of curated lists from around the internet counting down the Best of the Year:

  • Best of 2021 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2021.
  • Best of 2020 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2020.
  • Best of the Decade: 2010-2019 - A curation of lists around the web for the best of the decade.
  • Best of 2019 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2019.
  • Best of 2018 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2018.
  • Best of 2017 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2017.
  • Best of 2016 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2016.
  • Best of 2015 - A curation of lists around the web of the very best titles from 2015.
  • Best of the Decade: 2000-2009 - A curation of lists around the web for the best of the decade.

Following that, the next landing page is Read by Genre which showcases all the different genres that our collection has to offer and on the left hand side of both this page and each of the genre specific pages are listings of all the complete series we currently have available in the catalog. The fiction pages are further separated by vintage (pre-2000), modern (post 2000), and manga titles while the non-fiction pages is broken up by Dewey Decimal category fields. In the side columns of each page are complete series listings, YouTube shows and other info pertaining to the genre page: